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marks the lodging of one who is not royal, he does not put pour, but
simply the name--as, 'Le Duc de Gesvres, le Duc de Mazarin.'" This
pour on a door indicated a prince or a favourite. A favourite is worse
than a prince. The king granted le pour, like a blue ribbon or a
peerage.
Avoir le tour in England was less glorious but more real. It was a
sign of intimate communication with the sovereign. Whoever might be, by
birth or favour, in a position to receive direct communications from
majesty, had in the wall of their bedchamber a shaft in which was
adjusted a bell. The bell sounded, the shaft opened, a royal missive
appeared on a gold plate or on a cushion of velvet, and the shaft
closed. This was intimate and solemn, the mysterious in the familiar.
The shaft was used for no other purpose. The sound of the bell announced
a royal message. No one saw who brought it. It was of course merely the
page of the king or the queen. Leicester avait le tour under
Elizabeth; Buckingham under James I. Josiana had it under Anne, though
not much in favour. Never was a privilege more envied.
This privilege entailed additional servility. The recipient was more of
a servant. At court that which elevates, degrades. Avoir le tour was
said in French; this circumstance of English etiquette having, probably,
been borrowed from some old French folly.
Lady Josiana, a virgin peeress as Elizabeth had been a virgin queen,
led--sometimes in the City, and sometimes in the country, according to
the season--an almost princely life, and kept nearly a court, at which
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